Chapter XXX, Things Beyond

She opened her eyes and looked above. She couldn't even recall how she found herself in this weird place, on this weird, yellow terrace. The whole city was set ablaze, as the green flames consumed everything around. A buzzing sound pierced the sky. It was one of the lemon zeppelins, once majestically floating in the air, now, falling down rapidly. She could almost hear the screams of it's passengers. What happened here, she pondered, as she gazed far over the horizon. There was nothing good about the smokes rising to the very sky, tangling around in the air as a sign of an end. The stench of burnt lemongrass was unbearable. And as always in those moments of hurt and despair, he appeared behind, looking at her with his empty, hollowed eyes. His teeth clicked constantly.

"Ah, such a delight from your side." He tapped her on the shoulder. "You're leading me to such fascinating places. Such curious worlds. So much possibilities to destroy. To devour." He tightened his grip. "To cleanse."

The fires consumed more and more, as buildings collapsed within it's grasp. All the lemons down below screamed in pain and agony,as they tried to get away, as they tried to run off. There's no running away from certain death however. There's no running away when the world is ending. There's no running away from Armageddon.

"What do you think about? Would you enjoy if I'd squeeze your new friend?" He grinned. "Would you enjoy that, my little pink delight?"

The zeppelin finally went down with a blow that tore down the nearby buildings, creating mayhem beyond imaginings. The screams that echoed through the city were long present after the souls left their bodies.

"You forgot about me, right?" He smudged her on the neck as his long, cold fingers ran deeper like deeper. She forgot how unpleasant that was. "Forgot about my presence in your little head. You remembered that you need to hurry, but forgot about the reason." He chuckled. "Forgot about me... such a shame, such a shame." The monstrosity grinned as he began to breathe heavily. "You shouldn't forget about those that care about you, oh no, you shouldn't..."

Almost as if he did it to put some weight into his words, a blazing pillar emerged right from the center of the city, erupting into numerous large sparks that felt down like blazing meteors, devouring everything they touched. The world before her began to rot abruptly.

"What say you? You're more silent than usual. You forgot, haven't you child?" He leaned closer. "Perhaps I should do it more often, perhaps that way you would learn your place child." She did forgot how much rot was in his breath, that's for sure. "You forgot. You should be ashamed. Should be ashamed, Bonnibel Bubblegum." He grinned in the most despicable way. "Or perhaps. I should call you... Bonnie? You like it that way, don't you?" His bone finger reached her chin. "You like petty words from others hm? But yet, you're trying to just ignore me? There's nothing to ignore about it, Bonnibel Bubblegum."

As he raised his arms, one of the lemons outside floated closer, struggling to get out from his clutched hands. There was no hope for him, that's for sure. No hope for this tormented lemon. He made her watch, as he squeezed everything that was to squeeze in that yellow body. And as nothing was left but an empty frame, he simply tossed it into the fire. She remained silent.

"You are still. going to ignore it? Perhaps you should feel it then. Yes, feel it."

He lift up his hand, and it all stopped, almost as if someone took a picture and placed it right before her eyes. Some figurines stood still in their last seconds, as something devoured them from behind. Parts of the lemon bodies that swirled around in the air, now just hanged there, like a grim reminder what actually happened.

"Thrilling to note that I'm also in every single world." He smiled. "Every world has someone like me. If you happen to succeed in your little escapade... there are endless possibilities to destroy other words... yes." He clapped his hands. "For now, let's focus on one divine rite, shall we, Bonnibel Bubblegum? Shall we?"

When he snapped his disgusting fingers, they both found themselves on the very top of the falling zeppelin, as the flames poured from each and every direction she looked at. She curled down and grabbed the material as hard as she could and he just stood above her, as the wind blew through his dirty, old rags. He laughed constantly, raising his hands up in the air, apparently pretty happy about himself. Apparently pretty proud. As the ground was closer and closer, the cursed fires down below almost called her by name, almost called to devour her in full, almost desired that very notion. She tried not to look, she tried not to notice that very thing. She wanted this dream to be over, yet despite her wishes, she could only feel the scorching fire blazing and devouring her skin, spreading disease everywhere it came, defiling everything it touched, crumbling each and every single piece.

"Do you feel the cleansing flame Bonnibel Bubblegum?!" The Lich screamed, once again tossing his arms on the sides. He was way too vigorous for her liking. "Do you feel the world ending before you?! Do you enjoy it, feel it, feel as it ends, ends because of you!" He began to laugh, but his voice quickly faded and mixed up with the screams down below. And then, he echoed once again. "I will devour and destroy things beyond Ooo, I will devour and cleanse each and every single world! And that's all because of you, my sweet! All because of you! And you time is running shorter, with every tick of the clock, with every hour you loose!"

The zeppelin go closer and closer to the ground. She could almost see the panic in the eyes of those before her and she could hardly say a word. All she could hope for was that this weird dream will end as fast as possible, and that she will once again go back into her word.

"Smell the scent of the end of the world, Bonnibel Bubblegum! Smell, remember it, learn to enjoy it! There won't be another like it, I assure you, I assure you Bonnibel Bubblegum!"

She closed her eyes, as they finally hit the ground. The pain overwhelmed her in full, as if every single inch of her body was smashed and burned, smashed and burned all over in a consistent matter. And above all else, his voice, piercing her mind like usual. His voice echoing throughout her head like a ringing bell that just couldn't stop, that simply didn't want to stop for that matter.

"Don't think I'll let go, Bonnibel Bubblegum! Don't think I'll ever let go! I am you and you are me. And I will be the end of you!"

###

She finally woke up, as always gasping for air. Her lover slept near her, cuddling around and muttering something in her usual way. This place that they ventured into was pretty weird. It was the home of their newly found friend, and everything in here seemed to be mismatched. She obviously had issues with taking things that hardly belonged to her, therefore each and every single room was full of items that hardly belonged to her. Well, at least when she was taking them that is. She apparently enjoyed having a lot of lamps and shiny things as well, since each and every shelf had at least two or three of them, all lit up for some obscure reason. It was nice of her of course to keep the girls around in here until she'll forge a plan suitable enough to get inside the palace walls. Obviously the princess had a few of her own ideas, she was the smart mind around after all, still, she didn't quite managed to comprehend all the different rules that this world went by. And as she was occupied within her thoughts, her lover finally got up as well, blinking a bit, seeing as all the lights in the room were hardly the way she enjoyed it. Almost instantly, without a single word, she began to float around, as she turned off most of them.

"What are you doing?"

"Creating a mood."

"What for?"

"What? Nah. Who would me more like it."

She smiled and pointed her finger right at the pink being. She understood it perfectly and hardly opposed. When there finally was enough intimacy for the two, the vampire returned to her and cuddled around once again, listening closely to her heartbeat. It was nice to hear it so close, beating so hard.

"So..." The pale one tapped on her skin smoothly, enjoying each and every touch. "...it's been a while since we broke up, came back together, broke up, came back together..." She sighted. "...broke up, came back together."

"Feeling nostalgic Marceline?"

"A bit, yeah."

"Why?"

"We came a long way already, there's even more before us."

"Yeah. So?" The princess smirked a little. "Wasn't it always that way?"

"Maybe. Well, maybe back then you were more cautious about giving the flicks of your hair to strangers."

She tossed herself right into her pink arms once again, cuddling around some more. Bubblegum felt weird however. Something was not right. Something with her head was not right, even despite the presence of the one that she adored the most. And that very notion frightened her – usually when she was around Marceline, everything was perfectly fine. Everything was on it's right course.

"Ever wondered what a perfect match we're?" The vampire asked and looked at her lover. She too saw that something's not right within her. That something bothered her. "Huh, Bonnie?"

"Maybe at times, but..."

The princess looked at her as her face changed in a brief second. She almost saw the empty hollows gazing at her with much hatred, as the thin lines appeared in them, burning with contempt. As the one before her opened her maw, it spewed curses and shouts once again constantly, almost making her ears bleed.

"EVER WONDERED WHAT A PERFECT MATCH WE ARE TOGETHER, BONNIBEL BUBBLEGUM? YOU AND ME, YOU AND ME, YOU AND ME, YOU AND ME!"

She quickly stood up and took a step back, as she blinked a couple of times. Whatever was before her eyes, whatever was in her mind, vanished. Now, there was no one else aside from her precious little vampire that looked at her with much care.

"What's wrong Bonnie?"

"Nothing..." She sighted. "...nothing."

But there was something. World began to change before her eyes, as numerous shapes emerged from each and every direction. The walls began to rot, as from the tiny holes, numerous maggots emerged and began to crawl everywhere around. She panicked, she wanted to scream, yet there was no escape from the visions. The worms almost reached her legs, and then, she saw him once again, standing in the middle of the room, smiling viciously at her. His grin was atrocious, as even more insects seemed to simply flow from within his wide opened maw. She couldn't hear her lover, she couldn't hear a thing, just his hoarse chuckle. As he began to come closer and closer, she was unable to move. Was it real? Was it in her head? She thought she woke up, wasn't that the case? He reached out for her as the stench of his flesh was getting unbearable. Maggots crawled on her legs as well, as she felt their every twitch, their every move. But now. Now it was all different. He could show her all the gross things, he could try to break her that way. It was hardly effective. The only thing she cared about, was the fact where her companion went. Where is she now. What did he do to her? And just then, her questions were answered as it all faded when a pale hand squeezed on her arm tight, piercing the skeleton's body while at it. And the visions were gone.

"It's, he's, I..."

Marceline grabbed her hands and pulled closer. Just the very presence of her pale lover made her feel much better. Much calmer. As the vampire pulled her head towards her chest, she felt safe.

"No words."

###

Obviously their doings hardly went unnoticed, as the little Lime peeped through the keyhole. She was a curious sort after all, and she liked to borrow things from others, both in terms of their items and in terms of their privacy. She overall enjoyed claiming things that didn't belong to her, that's for sure. And as she gazed and gazed, she eventually took out a small notepad she also borrowed from someone and began to draw yellow circles. The little Lime quickly decided to take some notes however while at it, as she began to chew on the sweet flick of hair she received. She had two interesting specimens before her after all. She liked things that hardly matched. She was one of them.

"Note number one. The pink one attached her mouth to the other one. I think they're exchanging their juices. Reasons for that? Unknown. Perhaps they need that for some reason? Oh, oh, maybe that's vital for their life? Investigate it, yes."

On the other side, in their little cozy room, they did just that, as their tongues mingled together in their little thrilling slide. What was normal for the two, seemed to be quite obscure for the little Lime. In the lemon world, it wasn't common to show affection towards each other. In fact, no one showed affection at all, so it was quite new for her. Still, for some reason she enjoyed that notion and sight. That someone was close towards someone else. Kind off like her and her lamps. Only bit better perhaps. Although, lamps are 'warm' towards her as well."

"Note number two, oh, yes, yes. Now they're swirling around and their hands are all over the place. As if they were caressing each other. Reasons? Quite unknown."

There was something in their moves that fascinated her. They were so sure around each other, almost keen to one another. Those forms of showing feelings towards another being was unknown for her. She sensed something however, amongst one of them. She may be the outcast in her own world, but she felt the presence of something lingering in her pink head. That amazed her even more, as it would seem that the other one, the one without much colors on her, was quite alright with that notion. What was that word that no one used in the lemon world in centuries... Was it trust?

"Note number three. They are doing... weird things. It's quite...arousing? That's the word? Is it appropriate? It's a weird feeling. Yes. Why it's weird though?"

She couldn't help but watch, as she chewed further the piece of the pink one's hair. It was nice to eat something that wasn't sour. She kind off envied the two their different ways. Maybe it was a good thing that she snatched them into her house.

"Note number four. What is she doing with her tongue, that's not how you... oh my."

She couldn't turn her sight away, as the two girls expressed their love towards one another. That kind of sight wasn't all that common in those lands. Actually, this place lacked severely of it.

"Note number five. Well, I suppose some have different type of habits. Yes." She bit her yellow lip. "I suppose I shouldn't look. I suppose. That's a private party. Yes." She coughed a little bit. "I suppose, yes."